


To Dance Again

by Angeltigerdragon



Series: Dawn of Heroes [3]
Category: Justice League: War, Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Coming of Age, Coping, Gen, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, Paranoia, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 05:19:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11548290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angeltigerdragon/pseuds/Angeltigerdragon
Summary: The story of the Cyborg.





	To Dance Again

Victor’s eyes open. He cannot feel anything, the pain washed away probably from morphine, and he sees his dad. The old man’s face is gaunt and haggard looking. A ghost of the overzealous scientist who made Victor do puzzles that tested his intelligence. His dad starts to say something. He stops and begins again.

                “Vic…is that you?”

                “Yeah, dad,” he says.

His voice sounds off. Hoarse but metallic. How bad were his injuries?

Victor begins to look down. His body is covered in his Grandmamma’s quilt. He is not overtly hot.

                “Vic,” his dad says again, imploring. “Can you hear me? Do you know what happened?”

Victor grumbles, “Another stupid experiment.”

                “Yes. The most foolish thing I’ve ever done. Do you remember what happened, Victor? Why you’re here?”

Victor for the first time notices the desolate room. It is not the sterile white of a hospital and different from the extravagant condo he grew up in; the STAR labs emergency rooms are also similar to a hospital, but he is not in one. A red glow illuminates the room and seems to originate from the walls. His brain provides him the answer.

                “The Red Room,” he says, groggy. Honestly, he wants to sleep more than remember what accident has brought him here.

                **An Explosion.**

That is not his inner voice.

                **When Fatherbox exploded, it caused a huge reaction of destruction. One that burned through 90% of your vital functions and body. All four limbs and left side of the brain were casualties.**

The Voice is like from those futuristic RPG games he plays with his friends. Where the earth is destroyed and a band of heroes have to discover the truth before the aliens attack again.

                **SILAS STONE fused VICTOR STONE’S remains with several remnants of technology and a Mother Box acquired to rebuild a body for VICTOR STONE to live. Skin tissue replaced with Promethean grafts. Brain functions with the use of A-maze operating systems. A Responsometer developed by DOCTOR WILL MAGNUS to keep personality traits and long-term memory.**

It floods back in aching clarity. The explosion, his mother’s body crushed under rubble, the burns, and his dad’s terrified eyes.

                “dad…..”Victor says. He cannot move his legs.

Silas Stone is in front of him and touches the human side of his face. He can feel his dad’s calloused hands rubbing circles in his cheek.

                “I’m here, Vic,” the old man says. “I’m here. I won’t leave you. I won’t hurt you again.”

*

**_ Don’t be idle, baby. _ **

Victor listens to his dad’s instructions and repeats the motions of moving his fingers. The motion is akin to practicing scales on a piano. His dad watches aptly with Dr. Palmer.

**_ Quilts take a long time to make. But longer if you’re trifling with those puzzles. Don’t be idle, baby. Do things. Use your body and big brain for something you love. _ **

Grandmamma had encouraged him to try out for pee-wee football. She’s the one who made it to all his games when his parents were not available. His mom came more often than dad.

Dr. Palmer and his dad are discussing the benefits of hiding out somewhere for Victor. They are going to infuse the DWARF Star tech in him that  the good doctor has to spare. They believe he can compress his body into the small box form of the machines that helped save his life. The ones that took his life. His dad wants to hide him. There have been some people showing interest.

**_ You make me proud, Victor. _ **

His Grandmamma’s voice from the computer in his brain (he cannot think of a better word) sounds exactly like her from home videos. She died before he became a Freshman and he had trouble remembering how she sounded. That is the better part of this experience; his memories are crystal clear and he can hear and see his Grandmamma perfectly, as she was.

The two scientists finish talking.

                “Hey, Vic,” Dr. Palmer says too cheerily.

                **Heartrate increased to 82. Facial reactions reveals signs of nervousness.**

                “You’re going to put me under for the surgery,” Victor states.

Dr. Palmer grimaces, but nods affirmative.

                “I promise it won’t take long.”

Victor stops the finger exercises and listens to his Grandmamma’s voice.

**_ God’s here with you, Victor. Like me. I’m here with you. Just call out. We’re listening. _ **

*

_ Six months later _

Victor spends his days getting his bearings and using his new limbs. He discovers that he is essentially a superhero.

                _Take that old man_ , he thinks.

His dad finds work under a false name and leaves Victor with a list of exercises and programs to run. Honestly, it feels like he’s five again and his parents are measuring his intelligence with computer games.

Victor does not follow all the instructions that his dad left him. He also binge-watches some anime on Netflix, like _Sword Art Online_ or the _Naruto: Shippuden_ series. His dad has a program that shows him what Victor has done, but he figured out how to hack it and show that he did what he was supposed to do.

Months pass like this. His dad comes home and looks more haggard than the day Victor woke up.

One day, he comes home with a gun. He tells Victor to hide in the closet.

In the box form, he cannot hear what is happening outside. When his dad comes for him, hours later, he looks like he killed a man. Victor is afraid to ask if he had.

From then on, it’s a strict schedule with codes and secret knocks. Victor pretends that he is in a 007 movie. It does not work with how his dad never leaves him alone and constantly stares out the window.

This breaks, finally, when new strangers come.

Victor has his grip on his dad taking him away from the lady with the rope, and then a man says: “Stop!”

The room suddenly goes silent.

The people explain themselves and though his dad is vehemently telling them no, Victor wants to step out. He does not like being here alone anymore. He does not like having to hide in that tiny box. He hates that he’s become idle.

**_ Don’t be idle, baby. _ **

*

When aliens start descending down, Victor gets up and leaves. His mind and body working in sync for the first time. Victor Stone is alive.

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone who does not know, all the things Voice mentioned were in the original draft of Cyborg's character origin. It has changed, I think, in the new 52, but in "Justice League: War" we are only shown that Father Box is responsible for Cyborg's transformation. The same is for the cameo in "Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice." I read the original one and thought it applied better to explain Cyborg's powers.


End file.
